A very fun day yesterday on Knotted Histories, taking samples from the carpet in the King's room at Knole and uncovering the hidden parrots underneath @researchnt.bsky.social

A very fun day yesterday on Knotted Histories, taking samples from the carpet in the King's room at Knole and uncovering the hidden parrots underneath @researchnt.bsky.social

✨Speech/less in the Early Modern World✨ Research Workshop, 23-24 April 2026 Emmanuel College, Cambridge Places limited. Please register as an attendee by 12 April: forms.gle/k9Xnz4gVFhe2Syez9 Thank you event sponsors! @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social @camhistory.bsky.social @socialhistsoc.bsky.social

Scholars of #mobility, #travel, #exploration, #colonialism. Do remind your PhD students and ECRs about the @hakluytsociety.bsky.social annual essay prize! 🗃️We are accepting entries until 1 March. More details here: www.hakluyt.com/hakluyt-soci...

Amnesty International have put together a handy guide if you're against these hostile environment changes but don't quite know what to say! media.amnesty.org.uk/documents/Am...

The UK government has launched a consultation on 'earned' settlement with the aim of making immigration more difficult and, if you wish, you can tell them what you think of those plans before 11.59pm on Thursday (12 February). www.gov.uk/govern.../co...

This made me genuinely laugh out loud.

📢 Excited to announce this Call for Papers for ‘Clio Reframed’, a conference at Oxford on 18-19 June 2026 exploring early modern women as writers of history. @engfac.bsky.social @oxfordcems.bsky.social Abstracts due by 28 Feb! clioreframed.hcommons.org/call-for-pap...

The thing about both the WI and the Guides is that transphobia is best countered by like, meeting trans people and talking to them. It is far easier to stoke hatred when you have shut down avenues for normal daily interactions.

Due to the funding we have received from the National Research Foundation of South Africa, we are delighted to be able to offer a limited number of fee waivers for online attendance on a first-come, first-served basis! This means that you can attend all our conference events ONLINE for FREE!

Currently being passive aggressively sassed by Outlook while it refuses to work

We're proud to be a partner on this project, which is bringing the stories of carpets to life - they're much more than just somewhere to put your feet 👣

The website for Knotted Histories is now up at tinyurl.com/2tszcc2f 🧶✨🧵The project is run between @engfac.bsky.social, @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social and @researchnt.bsky.social, and will be looking at the creation of early modern carpets as well as their role in global networks.

Hoping this helps our colleagues across the industry

📣Call for Papers 📣 I am delighted to announce that 'Speech/less in the Early Modern World' will be held 23 April 2026 at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. Please share far and wide and do consider submitting a proposal! 🙊 Link to PDF version: bit.ly/4lZz80R

AI proving once again that there's still undiscovered knowledge for us to mine.

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Interested in travel writing? Want to learn more about editing historical travel writing? Come to the FREE Hakluyt Society editorial workshop!! 4 July, 9:30-18:00, Royal Asiatic Society, London FREE but must register: #travelwriting #travel #skystorians 🗃️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future...

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The Prime Minister imitating Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech is sickening. That speech fuelled decades of racism and division. Echoing it today is a disgrace. It adds to anti-migrant rhetoric that puts lives at risk. Shame on you, Keir Starmer.

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So basically just sort of banning people who enjoy a sport for fun really?

Recently I found myself on Antipope Instagram, where there are endless reels of the current Antipope of the Palmarian Catholic Church. This is, of course, extremely my jam, and I started reading up on them hoping to find some wild theology, but instead I found something WAY better...

On what is a really difficult day, here are some resources for our trans friends and allies. Solidarity 💜 goodlawproject.org/resource/sup...

What ethical responsibilities do we bear when we write about war? This is one of the questions we’re posing in our June colloquium on early modern war narratives. CFP here and the deadline is 11th April! Please share widely and consider submitting an abstract! kingsearlymodern.co.uk/events/lamen...

The thing that is so frustrating about this is that this exact argument — these very same words — could be used to criticise Kathleen Stock and support the people who oppose her. But they never are.

Abortion = health care.

Today's MEMOries post from MEMOs team member Dr Emily Stevenson takes a look at a 1565/6 Westminster School play set in Jerusalem. memorients.com/articles/sta...

if you find yourself reluctant to support the guy at Columbia because you find some of the politics he espoused distasteful or even abhorrent, you should know that this is exactly the reaction that they hoped for in choosing him as a target for unlawful detention based on political speech.

I’m glad Labour is supporting these workers, who are at risk of losing 400 jobs. Would be nice if they were also supporting university workers, where 10,000 jobs are at risk. In the first week of February alone 1,000 job cuts were announced. Nothing from Labour at all in response.

This is a national scandal. When will the government wake up and realise they are presiding over the rapid implosion of the UK's world-renowned university sector?

I didn't know this wasn't well known! Here are some resources: DHQ article on eebo and fingerprints specifically: www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/18/1...

Discussing how similar early modern character names are in seminars this week and one of my students goes ‘oh it’s really confusing, for realio’, prompting me to freeze at the thought I’d forgotten who Forealio was and which play he was in

This is actually full of good reporting on casualization of UKHE at even the most prestigious institutions. And the fact that the Observer pressed Christ Church directly on ad wording, and then reported on the college's sidestepping is nothing short of astonishing.

Hello all: It is with a heavy heart that I remove my Starter Pack of "Trustworthy Mesopotamian Copper Ingot Merchants Within the City-State of Ur." I have been informed about some pretty unfortunate oversights on my part and ultimately platformed some creators who should not have been platformed.

In honour of returning to Bluesky, here is my greatest achievement of reading-week-teaching-prep

Slightly belated but very much enjoyed appearing on Free Thinking last week talking about Travel, Pleasure and Peril (and available now on BBC Sounds! Come for the pilgrimages, stay for people being pickled and Amazons wearing relics ✨

Cabin crew: Is there a Dr on board? Me: I am a Dr Cabin crew: Thank God. We have a question about the 18th century textile trade in Northern Africa Me: Ah. I'm afraid my PhD is in the ceramics of Northern Europe, 1672 - 1701

Have just encountered this incredible poetic tribute to Natalie Zemon Davis, written by her late husband Chandler Davis in 1975. By extension, it is a poem for so many historians and a wonderful reflection on what it is we do. Text version and credit to: www.history.ox.ac.uk/article/in-m...

Week 1 of Oxford teaching is done, including a successful pun on my ABBA lanyard and Petrarchan sonnet rhyme schemes 🪩💃

Searching for advice for a student - what do other people do when they feel overwhelmed with how much material has already been written on a subject and they don't know what new things they can say?

A new office plant for a new academic year 🌱 (and a Tradescantia, so this is essentially a research expense)